Missouri walked into its homecoming showdown with No. 8 Florida carrying the sting of a loss at Mississippi State. By the time it was over, the Tigers had ripped off 35 unanswered points and delivered a 45-17 statement at Memorial Stadium.
Austin Simmons said the response started with the mindset.
“Turning the page early was a big factor for us, not really staying on our emotions from that game,” quarterback Austin Simmons said postgame.
The win gave Mizzou its first home victory over an AP top-10 team since the 36-27 upset of No. 1 Oklahoma in 2010.
It also marked the program’s biggest margin of victory against an AP top-10 opponent since a 46-25 win over No. 8 USC in 1976.
Florida’s biggest problem all afternoon was simple: Missouri never let Jadan Baugh and the Gators’ ground game get comfortable. The Gators finished with 25 carries for 42 yards, and Baugh was held to 13 yards on 1.1 yards per carry.
That tone was set early. Missouri opened the game with four tackles for loss on Florida’s first drive and came up with a critical third-down stop inside the 5-yard line to force a field goal.
Even without starting pass rushers Darris Smith and Langden Kitchen, the Tigers still piled up 3 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Kensley Louidor-Faustin led the way with 3.5 tackles for loss.
On offense, Missouri looked a lot more like the team fans saw in the first two weeks. Simmons kept feeding his top receivers, and Jamal Roberts turned the second half into a highlight reel.
The Tigers were already in the middle of a 20-0 surge when the run game finally broke loose in a big way. With about a minute left in the third quarter, Missouri had only 22 carries for 48 yards on the ground. Then Roberts ripped off the longest run of his career - at least for a few moments - a 77-yard burst to the 2-yard line.
He followed that with an even bigger answer. After looking frustrated at the end of the 77-yard run, Roberts scored on the first play of the next drive, taking an 80-yard touchdown to the end zone. He finished with 211 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries.
“That was motivation for the rest of the game. Just having the energy, just going on a run,” Roberts said. “I feel like the crowd was there with us.”
Simmons put together the best passing day of his career, completing 23 of 30 throws for 340 yards and two touchdowns. Cayden Lee and Donovan Olugbode combined for 14 catches and 204 yards, with Olugbode grabbing the touchdown.
Missouri also got a new weapon involved in Caleb Goodie Sr., who entered the day with just one catch since transferring from Cincinnati. Against Florida, he finished with two receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown.
His 36-yard catch on the opening drive of the second half helped set up Missouri’s 27-10 lead, which Roberts finished with a 5-yard scoring run.
“I thought Caleb’s two catches were the difference,” head coach Eli Drinkwitz said. “He hasn’t had as many opportunities as he would like, but he came up big on the first-half touchdown and obviously the first drive of the second half on that third-down catch was huge.”
Missouri’s scoring pattern stayed familiar: after a 3-3 first quarter - its first points in an opening frame since Week 1 - the Tigers piled up 27 points across the second and third quarters.
Blake Craig gave the offense more confidence too. “Craig the Leg” made 3 of 4 field goals and all 5 extra points, shaking off a miss wide right from 50 yards in the second quarter and then drilling two straight from 50-plus.
By the end, the numbers told the story. Missouri rolled up 562 total yards, committed only two penalties and went 7-for-13 on third down. Florida was held scoreless in the second half until the final minutes, and the Tigers’ defense looked as if it had taken a real step forward.
The challenge now is making it last. Texas A&M comes to Faurot Field next Saturday for a morning kickoff.
In Other News...
Mizzou Just Delivered The Bounce-Back Tigers Fans Desperately Needed
For a program looking to reset the mood in a hurry, Saturday gave Mizzou exactly the kind of response it had been searching for. The No. 25 Tigers knocked off No. 8 Florida 45-10, a result that stood out not just for the margin but for what it meant in the bigger picture, as Mizzous first regular-season win over a Top 10 opponent since 2013. It was the sort of complete performance that can change the temperature around a team in a single afternoon.
Mizzou did it by controlling the game at the line of scrimmage and making Floridas offense look out of sync from the start. The defense held star running back Jadan Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, while Jamal Roberts powered the offense with more than 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The passing game spread the ball around, Blake Craig added key field goals, and the Tigers left no doubt that this was the bounce-back performance their fans had been waiting for. [Read more 🡒]
Eli Drinkwitz Just Changed The Conversation Around Missouri
Saturdays rout of Florida did more than add another win to Missouris record. By taking down the No. 8 Gators 45-17, the Tigers delivered the kind of performance that can reset the tone around a program, and they did it by controlling the game in every phase. Missouri held Florida to just 42 rushing yards and finished with a 560 to 325 edge in total yardage, the sort of numbers that tell you this was no fluke.
For Eli Drinkwitz, it also marked another notable line on a rsum that is starting to look different than it did when he arrived in Columbia. He now has two top-10 wins during his tenure, and this one carried extra weight because of how thoroughly Missouri handled the moment. For a program trying to move from occasional spoiler to something more durable, a result like this changes the conversation in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Mizzou Defense Just Made A Huge Statement Against No. 8 Florida
Missouris defense delivered the kind of night that can change the way people talk about a team, smothering No. 8 Florida in a 45-17 win and making the Gators look uncomfortable from the opening stretches. The Tigers took away the run, kept Jadan Baugh to 13 yards on 12 carries, and made Florida chase the game while the Mizzou offense turned the stops into points and steadily pulled away.
Kensley Louidor-Faustin was part of a front that kept the pressure on Floridas quarterback and helped produce multiple sacks, a sign that Missouris pass rush and run defense were working in sync. For a team trying to build real momentum in SEC play, the larger takeaway was less about one big play than the way the Tigers controlled both lines and left a top-10 opponent with few answers. [Read more 🡒]